Former NASA astronaut Bill Anders died Friday in a plane crash near the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington state, according to his family. The cause of the accident has not been determined; the 90-year-old Anders was piloting the craft and was the only one aboard.
Anders was part of the Apollo 8 crew—the first humans to reach, but not land on, the moon. The mission helped lay the groundwork for Apollo 11, where astronauts first set foot on the lunar surface.
Apollo 8 orbited the moon 10 times, during which Anders snapped a photo that became known as "Earthrise," depicting the Earth rising above the moon's horizon. Admirers of the shot said it contextualized Earth's fragility—the image has been credited with launching the modern environmental movement and has been called the most important environmental photo ever taken.
See more images of Earth taken by the different Apollo missions here.
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